The Runesmith

Roland walked in through the room while wearing his red armor. This time around though, he had his helmet down. This was an official hearing with even the guild master present. There was no use hiding his face, he would need to take it off anyway if they started asking questions.

The room was about the size of a school classroom with a large desk with the guild workers sitting at it. He could see the woman with the glasses sitting to the side along with the gnome that explained taming related skills to him.

In the middle of the table he saw an unknown giant. It was clear from the first glance that he was someone belonging to the Goliath race. He was large and muscular and looked to be the one running the show here. Roland hadn’t seen the guild master before but he knew from the rumors about his characteristics.

‘Why would the guild master be here...’

This was the first red flag, normally there would be a higher ranking worker from the guild present here but not the guild master. Could this be why Armand was not afraid to attack other adventurers? Could he be backed by the guild master? if so Roland could be the one getting banned from the guild instead.

There were another two people sitting to the other side. It was an older woman and a middle-aged man. The man looked like a fighting instructor, his face was filled with scars and his body was also rather muscular. He was clearly someone belonging to the warrior profession. Next to him was an older woman in a robe, she gave him mage vibes. By the way, mana gathered around her she was someone with a large amount just like Roland here.

Five people in total were behind that table, from what Roland could tell these people would take a vote. You needed three votes in your favor to have the verdict go your way. There was also the guild master present though, he could outright shift the whole thing in Armand’s favor. Roland feared that if he gave an order the others would not vote against his judgment.

There was a set of two long tables on the opposite side. In one of them, he noticed a familiar face, it was the muscle-bound Armand who looked quite angry. He was staring daggers at the guild master for some reason. When Roland walked in his target had changed, this was the first time they were actually face to face.

It seemed that the fist-fighter was a bit surprised at how young Roland was. Even though his frame was similar to an adult man, he was still only about sixteen years old. The only person that actually saw his face before was the elven receptionist lady, she wasn’t here though so it was a first for everyone gathered.

While being stared at, the woman with the glasses walked up to him.

“Mr. Wayland, Mr. Bernir. Please take a seat.”

She pointed to the two chairs that were probably prepared for him and Bernir. They were at the table that was to the left of the one Armand was sitting at. The two nodded and slowly walked over to their seats. Roland purposely evaded Armand’s menacing stare which only caused the muscle idiot to get angrier.

‘Those five idiots aren’t there? Might have actually skipped town...’

For now, it looked like they were missing the party of the tier 2 thugs that attacked Bernir. Not being here would actually work against them. They wouldn’t be able to explain themselves so Roland winning the case was almost guaranteed. The only one he would need to watch for is Armand then.

“It would seem that Mr. Devyn and his party haven’t arrived yet. Ms. Elodia would you know anything about this?”

The one that spoke up was the old mage-looking granny. The old woman had a gentle smile on her face while looking at the receptionist lady and asking the question.

“One of our guild members should be bringing them over soon...”

She answered while the warrior-looking man next to the old woman grinned a bit.

“You mean Korgak? Hope he doesn’t kill them before they get here, though that might speed things up...”

The man rubbed his chin while looking happy for some reason. He was probably imagining a violent ending for the party of five by the hands of this associate of theirs.

“Let us wait, if it’s Korgak then he should get them here.”

The guild master waved his hand while leaning back in his chair. Roland took this time to examine this man, this was apparently the most powerful adventurer in the city. A tier 3 class holder that followed the warrior tree.

If someone wanted to become a true guild master this was the main requirement. You had to have successfully attained a tier 3 class. This was a new city and a new guild which made Roland believe that he was probably at the lower end of this tier 3 class.

Albrook was a developing city and no established guild master would take the time to spend years developing it. Most of the time something like this would be given to new guild masters.

Roland wasn’t sure about this man’s character but he didn’t seem like someone that enjoyed guild politics. He was sitting with his back leaned back and legs spread apart like he owned the place, which he did. He looked like the type that would settle things with his fists instead of diplomacy.

‘Hope he won’t think of something idiotic like having us both fight to clear things out. The victor gets the spoils?’

Something as silly as that would probably not come to place as there were strict rules. The guild master would be breaking guild laws if he ordered such a verdict. On the other hand, Roland wasn’t sure what he could do if such a decision was made.

Not like he had anyone that he could file a complaint to. The only one that outranked this man would be another guild master from a larger guild.

There were many guilds spread throughout the lands. It worked similar to a chain of stores with the guild masters being managers in them. Then there was someone like a regional manager that the guild masters had to answer to. Above them finally was the strongest one out of them, a tier 5 monster.

This was also mostly where the journey of power ended for everyone. There weren’t many people that could achieve something of that height in their lives. The experience it took was massive. Besides that most people ended up retiring after achieving tier 3 which was already seen as being one of the top elites.

‘I’d have to go to one of those regional guild masters huh...’

While thinking his eyes met with the imposing-looking man. The man that looked to be chiseled out of granite smirked which made Roland flinch a bit. It looked like he was about to say something but before he could the door slammed open and one of the thugs that attacked Bernir flew through it.

“Ah, Finally. What took you so long Korgak?”

Soon all four of them were in the room, behind them was an imposing half-orc that looked quite similar to the one that he met as a slave. His face and bone structure were quite similar. The main difference was that his shade of green was paler.

“Korgak bring, now Korgak go.”

The way that he talked was also akin to what he remembered from Golgrim. He was quick to remove himself from the room after shoving the five adventurers in. They all had bruises on their bodies and it was clear that they didn’t come here of their own volition.

“Good, everyone is here, let us get this over with.”

The guild master leaned forward while smacking the table with his large hand. Elodia instructed the five to sit at the table with Armand. The five after realizing that the guild master was here along with some other powerful adventures were quick to shrink back. Like puppies with curled-up tails, they waddled over to their seats as the hearing finally commenced.

“We have gathered here due to Mr. Wayland’s complaint about the party name: Dread End.”

Elodia started listing the names of everyone, Devin and his gang had quite the showy name but not much to show for it. They were only lower-level tier 2 adventurers with basic classes that didn’t show much promise for the future.

“Dread End was seen being attacked by Mr. Wayland in the...”

The focus was on the battle at the pub. It seemed that the guild did their research. Elodia explained that Roland was seen walking up to them slowly and that he asked for the backpack more than once before attacking. Devin and his boys were the first ones to draw the weapons which put Roland in an advantageous position.

“Does anyone from Dread End have anything to add?”

“Of course we do!”

“That madman clearly attacked us, we were just defending ourselves!”

“That’s right!”

The ones that were being accused were unwilling to admit to their robbery. The problem with this was that it came to their word against his and Bernir’s. The only thing that could help them were the witnesses. This was a bit concerning as he had no idea who the guild would bring in or if they even took the time to do this.

This was also why he was soon pleasantly surprised as they brought out the first witness, a middle-aged dwarf.

“Could you point out who Mr. Devyn and his party members were following?”

“Yes it was him, I saw it with my very own eyes.”

“He lies! Damn dwarf, I’m going to...”

“Pipe down!”

A little scene unfolded that Roland didn’t predict. The guild brought out this witness from somewhere and apparently he saw Devyn and his buddies following after Bernir. He described how he noticed them walking out of an alley and trailing after his assistant in detail. How they managed to find this guy was unknown to him but someone did a good job.

Dread End was not happy about this surprise witness but they quickly quieted down after the man next to the guild master shouted at them. It was clear that they knew him and were scared.

The hearing continued and it was going in Roland’s and Bernir’s favor. Some people from the pub were questioned and they also mentioned how he left money behind after trashing the wall.

“I think I’ve heard enough. Dread End will be suspended from the guild, we can’t have our adventurers acting like common thugs.”

The guild master spoke out while the others nodded. These five made them look quite bad and even though they were tier 2 class holders they could be replaced.

“I agree with the guild master but this isn’t enough. I say we give them to the city guards, they did almost kill a man.”

The one that brought this up was the old gnome. The others murmured for a moment before starting a vote between themselves. Everyone minus the man with scars on his face was for this idea, his reasoning being that he didn’t like the nobles being involved in guild politics.

“The city guards? You think we’ll take this lying down!”

Devyn and his buddies quickly shot up to their feet before storming for the exit. They were already forced to arrive here due to the half-orc and were probably planning to escape from the beginning.

Roland watched them tackle the large door that was locked, it couldn’t take a full shoulder tackle from a tier 2 tank and broke down instantly. He wasn’t about to chase after them though this was the adventurer’s guild and they had enough people to handle something like this.

Dread End reached a bad ending as they didn’t make it outside. The half-orc was still there on guard along with other instructors. After a little scuffle, the five thugs were apprehended.

“Well, I guess you didn’t get a chance to say much, Bernir.”

Bernir was to the side wiping some sweat from his brow. Roland could see him flinch a bit as the people that broke his leg stormed out in haste. He wasn’t even able to testify as the surprise witnesses took care of that for him.

“Aye, I just want to go back to the workshop and drink some wine, hope they get sent to the mines.”

Bernir laughed weakly. Sending people to mine underground was a popular punishment for criminals. People like that would be mostly branded as criminal slaves and used for hard labor.

In this world, there were no large prisons where the prisoners just stayed in without working like in Roland’s previous world. Everyone was forced to work for their food and if they didn’t then death was the only way out.

“You might want to hold that thought, this isn’t over yet.”

Roland commented while looking at the one person that was sitting at the other table. Armand started out looking angry but now he just looked bored. The young man had even dozed off during the questioning of the previous witnesses as if it didn’t concern him.

After a few minutes, another member from the guild popped his head through the door.

“We got them, guild master.”

“Ha ha, good. Keep them locked up till the guards arrive, then they will be their problem.”

It seemed that the guild master was finding these scenes quite amusing. Roland already noticed that this man acted quite relaxed and as if he didn’t take many things all too seriously. If this was a good or bad thing he wasn’t quite sure.

“So are we done here?”

The man with the scars asked while standing up.

“What about little Armand there?”

The old woman next to him commented while causing Armand to look at her with a frown.

“What about him? We got the ones responsible, everyone can agree that it was just a misunderstanding between the adventurers. They can just shake on it like men!”

Roland remained seated while he listened. Half of his requirements had been fulfilled by the apprehension of the band of thugs. They were even going to go to jail but if they got prosecuted and sentenced would remain to be seen.

“Shake on it?”

Roland finally raised his voice while the guild members looked at him.

“Why would you allow someone like that to still work here?”

He said while pointing to the man he was accusing.

“Someone like that?”

Armand called out from the side while looking at Roland with scorn, it was clear that he had not learned his lesson yet.

“How would you wish to resolve this issue then young man?”

The one that asked was the old mage-looking lady.

“I’m not sure how the guild conducts itself but... I think someone that can’t think before acting is unfit to be an instructor. He makes the whole guild look bad.”

Roland’s main issue with Armand was that he was a blockhead that only wanted to solve his problems with fists. It would be fine if he was a regular adventurer but he was part of a larger unit. He made the whole guild seem like a band of thugs not much better than the people that they just sentenced.

“Hear that, you are making us look bad.”

The guild master gave out a chuckle while looking at the angered Armand.

“See, even now that idiot wants nothing more than to attack me... again, just like he did before without thinking. Do you really want someone like that around?”

The issue with Armand attacking him after he cleared out Dread End was already known. Now he only needed to convince these people to see it his way. The best way to do this in his eyes was to make them feel like he made their organization look bad. People could start going to other businesses to sell their monster parts if the guild started being known for their unreasonable practices.

“I had enough of this nonsense, just have the two fight and clear this out as men!”

The man with the scars proposed while most of the people that were sitting with him sighted.

“That’s why they think we are all muscle brains...”

The old woman commented while shaking her head.

“Yes, let us fight!”

Armand looked pumped for this option though why Roland wasn’t sure. He had already shown that he was more than able to beat this man in a one-on-one fight.

“Haven’t you already lost to him twice? Sit down, you idiot.”

The guild master commented while slamming his hand on the table which caused the other people to quiet down.

“That’s only because of that armor.”

“Be quiet idiot. Hey you there, kid.”

The guild master called out to Roland while shouting at Armand.

“Did you make that armor yourself?”

He asked while Roland just nodded, not like he was hiding that he was a runesmith at this point in time.

“Interesting, hey doesn’t the guild lack runesmiths? Why don’t we sign a contract with this kid?”

“Contract?”

Roland’s eyes narrowed, not sure what this man was trying to do.

“We’ll lower the rates of what the auction house is giving you!”

“Better the rates?”

Roland had to take a moment to think, getting more money was always nice. The auction house was kind of scalping the prices as there was no one going up against them. The guild was an entity that could compete with them and some did expand to have their own stores that sold more than just healing potions.

“Shouldn’t we end this hearing first... we don’t have all day...”

The old gnome called out from the side as they did not reach a verdict yet.

“Right, the vote! All for firing little Armand here raise their hands...”